Hybrid battery failure - home shop says dealer is ripping me off

Replacing individual cells is called "whack a mole" by people here. You can replace one, then a month later, another, rinse repeat continuously until tired and end up buying a new battery. Honestly, your better off just buying a new battery. You can go for a "non" Toyota refurbished battery, but they are just "whack a mole" batteries themselves. Your in an 11 year old Prius, the battery has lived it's life. Give the car a 2nd life and replace it's battery.

As for people having a Toyota dealer play whack a mole - I've never heard of it, but I guess it's possible.

As for driving the car - don't do that...

 

A Toyota dealer should not replace individual modules, it's not the proper repair process. Not sure why a dealer would mention this is available.

A dealer should only replace battery with a new battery. So your home dealer is doing something that's out of the norm.

You can try asking the selling dealer to pay for this repair, as 3 months is a very short time of owning this car. I think your home dealer is trying to pull a fast one here to cover themselves on selling you a car with a potentially bad battery

 

I am very curious about your situation and would like to know more.

If you would take a moment to call me I'd really appreciate it. (608-729-4082) Who is your home dealership?

I have not heard of any Toyota dealership replacing modules. I wonder what the cost is?

And by the way $2,600 for a NEW battery from a Toyota dealer is a good deal. I have seen prices range from $3,000 to over $4,000.

Maybe your home dealer will price match the other dealership for a new pack?

 

welcome!

iirc, another poster said a dealer did that for them. or was it a rebuilt pack? either way, it was the first i had heard of it.

try calling toyota and asking for goodwill warranty help. it is not unheard of for 11 year old batteries to fail.

 

I have heard of dealer's doing rebuilt Toyota pack. And even 3rd party packs.

But I've never hear of module level replacement.

Ashkmiller, please call me.

 

My dealer said they tried replacing individual cells, "and didn't have much success with it". From the posts I've seen here, I suspect that's true. They don't do individual cells at my Toyota dealership anymore. I opted for a new OEM battery back installed at my Toyota dealer after taking about a week to think it over and to do some research.

I think $2,600 is a good price for a new OEM replacement, and if it is done at a Toyota dealership the warranty is 3 years. The battery should be good for 10, though.

I figure it only took me 82,000 miles to save almost $7,000 in gasoline over the small SUV I was originally planning to buy, which took some of the sting out of the price. Now I figure my car is good until it is a quarter-century old, lol.

On your "is it safe to drive in it's current state?", no it's not. But if you're careful you should be okay over SHORT distances (NOT to a dealer an hour away, though!) Understand it will hesitate when starting out, so don't pull out into traffic. Don't get the gas engine hot, or it will go into limp mode. If it goes into limp mode, you can clear that for a short time by pulling over and cycling the power. Or you can wait until the ICE cools. So if you drive it, baby it, don't drive far (only a few miles), don't drive highway, and don't jump out into traffic. Babying at routes that allow 30-40 MPH is your best bet.

 

You are being mislead here a bit......but it was NOT by the shop that suggested that you replace the whole battery.

ALL of those cells have the same age and use on them. They likely will continue to fail as time goes on.....until you eventually replace them ALL, and that will be a LOT of hassle.

Search on here for owner reports of what happened to them with a "rebuilt" battery.
Pretty much NOBODY reports a long and happy life.

(Edit: I see that you came to that conclusion already. Hope you enjoy your Prius. I lived in Springfield for about 15 years and think I remember some REALLY bad experiences with the Toyota dealer there.)

 

Yay another new battery, another Prius on the road for another decade.

 

Actually they went with a USED battery.

Hopefully it lasts a few years.
I spoke to ashkmiller on the phone.
Was interesting to hear about the Iowa dealer that is replacing cells. I might give then a call to find out more. Seems like a really bad idea from a dealership standpoint.

 

You can still have a dealer install the 2600$ new Toyota battery and get 5 years of like new mpg’s.

Or save 500$ and do it again in two months, and then two months later.

You need a new factory traction battery, not a band-aid.

 

Does it sound like a side hustle rather than dealer sponsored?

 

Fix a warranty replacement, then sell the new battery to another customer. What a side hustle......

 

I spoke with a dealership in Florida this week that is also replacing cells in the battery. A customer had brought them one of my packs to install which they did (also strange for a branded dealership) and they had asked about getting old cells because yes they were putting them in customer vehicles. Basically $600 for a whack-a-mole solution by a dealership.

It is part of that southern US Toyota screwball mess, so it may be different...

 

That is hilarious.
I'm sure the dealer does as little as possible.

I would guess that they may not even have a high voltage charger on site to charge a pack or balance it.

Swap a cell and move on.

 

WOW! I wonder if corporate knows about this.

 

I’m thinking no.

I can imagine the white towers response though.

 

Maybe the prolong guys approached them and sold them a professional unit